


An Unexpected Letter

by bluemoonblues



Series: If You Need Me [1]
Category: NCIS
Genre: (but only sort of! this is kind of a prequel), Bed-Wetting, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Non-Sexual Age Play, Past Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:14:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21748336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluemoonblues/pseuds/bluemoonblues
Summary: Tony receives a concerning letter in the mail that puts him on edge, causing a rather embarrassing problem. Gibbs is there to fix both issues.
Relationships: Anthony DiNozzo & Jethro Gibbs
Series: If You Need Me [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1564711
Comments: 4
Kudos: 121





	An Unexpected Letter

**Author's Note:**

> This is sort of a prequel to Tony and Gibbs ageplaying, showing some of the stress that pushes Tony (and Gibbs) in that direction in the first place! There’s not any actual age play in this fic but Tony does get a bit headspacey, and Gibbs slips into Papa Bear mode just a bit. I hope you all enjoy, anyway!

Gibbs leaned back in his chair and rubbed at his eyes, attention yet again dragged away from his paperwork in favor of watching DiNozzo squirm around restlessly at his desk. The entire morning had gone much the same way. Gibbs would try to work on his paperwork, DiNozzo would adjust positions in his chair for several minutes at a time, distracting Gibbs from the task at hand, and then finally settle down, only to restart the ritual once Gibbs had redirected his focus to his work.

“DiNozzo!” Gibbs finally barked at the squirming man.

Tony jumped nearly a foot in the air and looked guiltily up at Gibbs. “Yeah, Boss?”

“Can you  _ sit still? _ ” Gibbs requested, annoyance dripping through his words.

“Sorry,” DiNozzo mumbled, giving his butt one last adjustment in his chair before becoming unnaturally stiff and turning back to his paperwork.

Gibbs frowned. Instead of a smart comment or a smirk or something more  _ Tony,  _ the younger man had only went quietly back to work, his face crestfallen. Something was wrong with DiNozzo, and Gibbs had a feeling that it wasn’t work-related.

“Everything okay, DiNozzo?” Gibbs asked.

“I’m fine, Boss,” DiNozzo responded, the downturn of his lips and the bags under his eyes saying that he was the exact opposite.

“You sure about that?” Gibbs prompted, squinting at DiNozzo in an effort to pick up on whatever he was hiding through body language alone.

“Yeah, just… had a long night,” DiNozzo sighed, avoiding eye contact.

Gibbs frowned. Something had to have happened to keep DiNozzo up all night; more was certainly on his mind than a simple lack of sleep. Usually he wouldn’t offer to play therapist, but DiNozzo looked pretty shaken up by whatever had occurred the previous night. Gibbs was genuinely worried about his safety.

“You wanna talk about it?”

DiNozzo looked up at Gibbs, his eyes wide in surprise. ”Uh… no, thanks. But I, uh... appreciate the offer,” he awkwardly replied.

Gibbs nodded, deciding not to push the issue. “Well, if you change your mind, the offer still stands.”

Both men went back to work in silence, DiNozzo sitting unnaturally still for the rest of the day.

As the day drew to a close, Gibbs began to pack up his things but noticed that DiNozzo wasn’t doing the same.

“Are you heading home any time soon, DiNozzo?” Gibbs asked, turning off his computer and standing up at his desk. For the most part, the bullpen was empty at this time of night, only a few people lingering around.

“Yeah, just finishing this last bit of paperwork,” DiNozzo replied, frowning down at the documents in front of him.

“Don’t stay too late,” Gibbs replied, putting enough authority in his tone to let DiNozzo know that his words weren’t mere suggestion, but rather an order.

DiNozzo gave Gibbs a left-handed salute without looking up, his other hand still marking the paper in front of him. Gibbs shook his head and made his way to the parking garage, deciding not to push the issue. Just this once, he’d go easy on DiNozzo.

* * *

Gibbs had been home for nearly two hours when he heard a car pull up in his driveway, followed by a door slam. Setting his fork down on his plate and standing up from his kitchen table, he headed to the front door. On the other side, DiNozzo shuffled his feet, only meeting Gibbs’ eyes for a second before flicking them down to study the porch.

“DiNozzo,” Gibbs said, surprised.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have come here,” DiNozzo said, shaking his head and backing away from the front door. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I’ll just—”

Nearly tripping over his own feet, DiNozzo stumbled down the steps of the porch and pulled his keys out of his pocket, shaking his head and muttering to himself.

“Wait, Tony,” Gibbs called, jogging to catch up with him. He put a hand on the younger man’s shoulder and tugged him gently back towards the house, not needing to use much force at all to get DiNozzo to move in the other direction. “Come on inside. I was just eating a late dinner but there’s plenty to share.”

DiNozzo frowned and shook his head. “It’s fine, Boss, I’m just gonna head home. I shouldn’t have come here in the first place. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Gibbs sighed and leveled DiNozzo with a look. “There must have been a reason for you to drive to my house at half-past eight o’clock at night, DiNozzo. I can’t let you leave here in good conscience if you don’t tell me what’s wrong. Have you eaten dinner?”

DiNozzo’s lack of response answered Gibbs’ question.

“C’mon, get inside,” Gibbs insisted, motioning for DiNozzo to walk back in the direction of the front door. He was going to get to the bottom of whatever was eating at his Senior Field Agent.

DiNozzo scrunched his eyebrows together, eyes burning with worry. “You sure you don’t mind?”

“Not at all. I’ve told you before that my front door is always unlocked,” Gibbs said, giving DiNozzo a meaningful look. DiNozzo glanced up at him and gave him a half smile. Gibbs continued, “I do mind that my dinner is getting cold, though, so get your ass in the house.”

DiNozzo huffed, pocketing his keys and walking back towards the house. He hesitated once more at the front door, giving Gibbs another worried glance, and Gibbs sighed before shoving him through the threshold. He had no idea what had DiNozzo so anxious around him all of a sudden, but he had a feeling that whatever the reason was, it was the same reason that DiNozzo was reluctant to go back to his apartment.

“You like spaghetti?” Gibbs asked, walking into the kitchen and grabbing another plate out of the cabinet.

“Uh… yeah, I guess,” DiNozzo replied, shuffling awkwardly into the kitchen.

Gibbs nodded and put a heaping serving onto the plate before setting it down at the kitchen table. He grabbed Tony a set of silverware and set that down as well. He then pulled out a glass and turned around to ask DiNozzo what he’d like to drink only to see the man still standing on the outskirts of the kitchen looking like he was walking a tightrope over a pool of sharks. “You gonna hover all night or are you gonna sit?”

“I guess I’ll sit since it seems I don’t have a choice,” Tony snarked, mouth pulling up in a twisted smirk.

“I wouldn’t force you to stay if you really didn’t want to be here. You know that, Tony,” Gibbs countered, not rising to DiNozzo’s bait. Clearly the man felt that he had to be on the defensive, but Gibbs was sure that it had nothing to do with him. His suspicions were confirmed when DiNozzo’s cheeks colored in embarrassment. “What’ll you have to drink? I’ve got water, beer…”

“Water’s fine,” DiNozzo replied, finally sitting down at the place Gibbs had set for him. Gibbs quickly filled the glass and placed it in front of him before sitting back down in his own seat.

“So,” Gibbs said once he’d dug back into his own meal. “What brings you here?”

Swallowing around a mouthful of spaghetti, DiNozzo replied, “I… I don’t know. Seemed like a better idea than going home.”

“And why don’t you want to go home, DiNozzo?” Gibbs asked, cutting into a meatball.

“My father sent me a letter,” DiNozzo replied, suddenly looking ill.

Gibbs waited for DiNozzo to explain why his father writing him a letter was an issue, but he didn’t elaborate. “I’m gonna need a little more to go on here, Tony.”

“I don’t exactly have a good relationship with my dad. I don’t even know how he got my address,” DiNozzo informed him, hunching down in his chair and picking at his food with his fork.

Gibbs nodded in understanding, masking his surprise at Tony’s admission. He’d gathered that Tony and his father hadn’t exactly gotten along, but he’d had no idea that it was bad enough for contact from the man to make Tony feel threatened. “Home doesn’t feel safe now,” he ventured a guess.

“Yeah,” Tony agreed. “And I keep waiting for him to show up at work, too, ‘cause if he’s got my home address, what else does he have, you know? That’s the only reason I left the office in the first place.”

“You were going to sleep there,” Gibbs inferred, frowning.

“Yeah,” Tony admitted sheepishly. “Like I said, Boss, I really didn’t have a good relationship with my dad. He didn’t usually hit me or anything, but… he wasn’t all that great. Especially not when he drank. I don’t feel comfortable with him… knowing how to find me even if I don’t want him to.”

Gibbs frowned in concern at Tony’s use of the word ‘usually’. “I’ve got a guest bedroom if you want to use it tonight,” he offered.

Tony relaxed minutely. “You don’t mind?”

“‘Course not,” Gibbs responded between bites of spaghetti. “I’ve told you plenty of times that my door is always open.”

“Cool,” Tony exhaled, giving Gibbs a relieved smile. “Thanks, Boss.”

Gibbs waved off his thanks and continued to eat. He was nearly done when he noticed Tony’s plate was hardly touched. “You gonna eat?”

“I’m not that hungry,” Tony muttered, shaking his head.

“Suit yourself,” Gibbs sighed, standing up and taking his plate to the sink. Tony followed, grabbing his own plate and throwing the rest of his spaghetti in the garbage. 

As Gibbs rinsed the dishes and put them in the dishwasher, he thought about what Tony had told him about his father. He knew that Tony’s father was a wealthy businessman but that was the extent of his knowledge. Wealth, he knew, could get people a lot of things. For example, an estranged son’s home address through less-than-legal means.

And, most likely, his work address. It was only a matter of time before DiNozzo Senior showed up at headquarters looking for his son. Gibbs wouldn’t let that happen, though, not if Tony didn’t want it to happen.

“Don’t worry about your father, DiNozzo. Tomorrow we’re gonna take care of it,” Gibbs said, turning off the sink and wiping his hands on a dish towel.

“Okay, Boss,” Tony replied, fiddling with his fingers. He was relatively quiet tonight, entirely uncharacteristic of himself. Gibbs was admittedly a little concerned.

“I’ll go set up the guest room and get you something to wear other than your work clothes,” Gibbs remarked, taking note of the suit Tony adorned. As he walked out of the room, Tony followed him.

“I can set up the room, Boss,” he offered, right behind Gibbs as he ascended the stairs.

“I’ve got it. You can change while I put on the sheets,” Gibbs replied, walking into his bedroom. Tony stood outside as Gibbs searched around, grabbing an old NIS t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. He handed Tony the clothing as he walked past him to the linen closet. “Bathroom’s on your right.”

Tony changed and Gibbs put sheets on the guest bed. Minutes later, Tony was exiting the bathroom in his borrowed sleepwear, his work clothes under one arm. With his free hand, he stifled a yawn.

“Guess you’re not up for any television before bed?” Gibbs asked.

“Not really. I know it’s pretty early, but I just want to go to sleep,” Tony admitted, rubbing his eyes.

“You know where the room is, get me if you need me,” Gibbs instructed. Tony nodded and walked into the guest room and Gibbs walked down the stairs to the basement. Leaving the basement door open just in case DiNozzo needed something, Gibbs went downstairs to work.

Hours passed before Gibbs knew it, surprising him as he saw that it was well past midnight. He stood and stretched, wincing slightly as his back popped, and made his way out of the basement. He paused at the top of the basement stairs as the sound of sniffling met his ears. Had DiNozzo suddenly contracted a cold? Or… was he crying?

Closing the basement door behind him, Gibbs followed the sniffling noise to his laundry room where DiNozzo was stuffing the sheets from the guest bed into his washer. Gibbs flicked on the light, and Tony flinched like he’d been struck.

“I’msorryDadIdidn’tmeantoIpromisepleasedon’tbemad!” Tony yelped, all the breath leaving his lungs at once.  _ I’m sorry, Dad! I didn’t mean to, I promise! Please don’t be mad! _

Gibbs frowned and walked forward, careful not to accidentally touch Tony’s trembling form and send him into a deeper panic. 

“Tony?” he asked. “You okay? Why are you— oh.”

As he approached, he finally saw what the issue was. The sweatpants Tony was wearing had a decently sized wet patch in the crotch area, and Gibbs would guess that the sheets he was stuffing into the washer weren’t entirely dry, either.

“Tony,” Gibbs said calmly, though he was completely out of his depth. “You’re not in trouble. Your dad isn’t here.”

Tony froze and his glazed eyes cleared, and Gibbs wondered if he’d said the wrong thing, right as the younger man began to cry in front of him, silent sobs racking his body. Must’ve been the wrong thing, then. Gibbs frowned, entirely unsure of what to do.

“I’m sorry,” Tony whimpered, rubbing at his eyes. “This is so embarrassing, I-I’m so s-sorry, Boss! I d-didn’t mean t-to!”

“Hey, Tony,” Gibbs said firmly. “Calm down, it’s fine. It isn’t the end of the world.”

Tony tried to stop crying but to no avail. Gibbs sighed, stepping forward and putting a hand on Tony’s back, ignoring his initial flinch and rubbing soothing circles into his skin. Over the next few minutes, Tony’s cries turned into hiccups.

“You okay?” Gibbs asked. Tony hiccuped and nodded. “Good. Let’s go upstairs and get you cleaned up.”

Tony followed Gibbs upstairs and waited outside his bedroom once again as Gibbs grabbed another set of pajamas for Tony to wear. Handing them over to Tony, the younger man wasted no time before hurrying into the bathroom to clean himself up and change.

Gibbs walked into the guest room to make sure that he didn’t need to clean the mattress, relieved to see that it was dry. After replacing the sheets on the bed, he walked downstairs into the laundry room, shoving the soiled sheets the rest of the way into the washer, adding detergent and turning the machine on. He’d add Tony’s clothes once he was done changing.

Going back upstairs, Gibbs waited outside the bathroom for Tony to come out. A few minutes later, he emerged, puffy eyed and red faced, wet clothes bundled up in his hands. Gibbs gently extracted the clothing from Tony’s hands, ignoring Tony’s protests.

He took the clothes downstairs and put them into the washer before returning upstairs where Tony was still standing in the hallway, looking lost.

“I’m really really sorry,” Tony said, voice thick. His eyes were brimming with tears once again. “I don’t know why that happened. I used to as a kid, but… it’s been years since…”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Gibbs soothed. “Accidents happen. Not like you did it on purpose.”

Tony nodded minutely, wringing his hands together. “Still, ‘m sorry. This is really embarrassing.”

“Stop apologizing, Tony,” Gibbs gently ordered. “Everything’s cleaned up, no harm done.”

Tony wiped at his eyes with trembling hands, swiping away unshed tears. He nodded once and moved to step past Gibbs, but Gibbs stopped him with a hand to the chest.

“Where are you going?”

“... Back to bed?” Tony said, more of a question than an answer.

“Are you ready to go back to bed?” Gibbs asked.

Tony bit his lip. “I don’t wanna make you stay up.”

“I’m not even tired, Tony. C’mon downstairs, I’ll turn on the TV,” Gibbs said, waving for Tony to follow him down the stairs. Wordlessly, Tony followed.

Gibbs walked into the living room and sat at one end of the couch, Tony taking a seat at the other end. Gibbs picked up the remote and turned the television on, flicking through the channels until he landed on the station he was looking for.

“Really, Boss?” Tony said, laughing a little. “The Golden Girls?”

Gibbs fixed him with a look. “You’ll keep this quiet if you know what’s good for you,” he warned.

Tony raised his hands in surrender, a small smile on his face. “My lips are sealed.”

Gibbs huffed and turned to the television, watching as Blanche invited the rest of the girls to a murder mystery. 

“I, uh, had a nightmare,” Tony said a few minutes later. “More like a memory. About my dad. I don’t know if that’s what caused…  _ that _ , but…”

“You wanna talk about it?” Gibbs offered, remembering all the late nights he stayed up with Kelly as she relayed her nightmares to him as he rubbed her back and swiped away tears. Of course, he wouldn’t be doing all that to DiNozzo, but he could lend an ear at the least.

Tony played with his hands for a few seconds before responding. “I don’t really wanna relive it twice in one night,” he muttered, eyes dark.

“That’s fine, I get it,” Gibbs replied. “You don’t have to talk about it. And I’m not mad, Tony. It could happen to anyone. I just want you to know that.”

Though it wasn’t exactly common for it to happen to a grown man, it wasn’t impossible, either, Gibbs supposed. Especially given that Tony was under a lot of stress right now, and was a bedwetter as a child. Having a nightmare about a traumatic memory from his childhood probably had just triggered an old response.

Tony nodded, eyes staring resolutely at his lap. The two of them fell silent again and Gibbs began to focus on the television again.

“Boss?” Tony said, breaking the silence.

“Yeah, Tony?”

“You really think you can do something about my dad?” he asked, equal parts hopeful and fearful.

“I don’t just think so, Tony. I  _ will  _ do something _ ,”  _ Gibbs answered, fixing him with a serious look. “I promise.”

Relaxing slightly, Tony nodded. “Thanks, Boss.”

Gibbs patted his shoulder in response, redirecting his attention to the television and letting them fall into silence for the last time. Just minutes later, Tony’s breathing evened out and Gibbs looked over to find him asleep, his head resting on the back of the couch.

Soon after, Gibbs fell asleep too, drifting off with the television still on in the background.


End file.
